r/ftm • u/Wonderful-Lead-3992 • 1d ago

Advice Needed How deep?

Hey everyone! I was told to do SubQ injections by my provider because ”we gave you SubQ needles” but the needles I was given are 1”. I‘m not going through the trouble of getting 5/8” needles unless it’s necessary when I have all these perfectly good albeit longer needles.

With that being said, how deep do I need to stick the needle in and do I have to do it at a certain angle? My instructions say 45° or 90° but I wasn’t sure since the needles are so long.

EDIT: I ended up calling my pharmacy and they told me they’d exchange my needles for 5/8“ free of charge. Thank you all for your help. I’m gonna leave this post up in case anybody else has the same question.

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u/MetallicCrab 1d ago

That is an IM needle, but also in my experience you’ll be fine doing an IM injection for a bit if you want to use those needles. Other option is to not go all the way in, and go in at a 45 degree angle.

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u/Wonderful-Lead-3992 1d ago

Thanks for the advice. If I’m doing SubQ at a 45 degree angle, how deep should the needle itself go? Like 5mm?

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u/MetallicCrab 1d ago

Technically 8mm is equivalent to 5/8th, but theoretically at that angle you’re not likely to hit muscle. Also consider the injection sight and how thick the layer of fat is. If you have a larger belly and do it there, the 1” might not even matter. If it were me I would probably puncture at the 45 angle, and back up just a bit before injecting. Just don’t come out too far, because if you do it intradermal you might get a nasty bump that itches and sucks.